This invention relates to hydrogenation catalysts and hydrogenation therewith. In another aspect, the present invention relates to hydrogenation of acetylenic compounds. In a further aspect, the invention relates to the stereospecific hydrogenation of acetylenic compounds.
The selective hydrogenation of acetylenic compounds to cis-olefinic compounds can be accomplished with a variety of prior art catalysts. However, while selectivity to the cis-olefinic product of greater than 90% can often be achieved with known catalysts, the concomitant formation of several percent of trans-olefinic compounds and saturated aliphatic compounds as reaction by-products is undesirable for many end uses. In addition, high selectivities to cis-olefinic products is sometimes achieved by carrying out the reaction under low temperature conditions which are expensive to maintain and require long reaction times in order to achieve high conversion levels of starting material. Conversely, when highly reactive catalysts are employed, selectivity to the desired cis-olefinic products frequently suffer.